Eureka! Human Factors made clear.
I’m a Human Factors specialist (a.k.a. cognitive engineer, usability designer, information architect, etc.) by trade. Unfortunately for me though, despite the growing prevalence of human factors I still have one major problem with the field. Every time I tell someone “I’m a human factors engineer” or “I’m getting my Ph.D. in human factors engineering” I am faced with a momentary stare while the person escapes into rapid activation of their neural network starting from somewhere around genetics. This momentary look, usually accompanied by a smile or nod, is then followed by the question “What does that mean?” (or the dismissing “oh, sounds interesting”).
Well, no more I declare! Thanks to the 2010 Inter-University Workshop I have a 5 second, visual way to quickly explain Human Factors (I hope). I shall grab a napkin, an arm, or even a dollar from my wallet and quickly draw two circles and explain that one is a job or task that a human will need to perform (ex., using a website, playing a game, driving a car, etc.). The other represents human capabilities- how fast can we run? how much can we lift? how much information can we handle at once? What if we’re under stress or time pressure? etc.. And then in a moment of pure enlightenment… I say “and Human Factors is the science of understanding human capabilities and designing jobs/tasks to ensure that they do not exceed human limitations.”
Alright, i’m still working on the last quote, but I really think the diagram helps. It’s better than nothing.
Professor Jenkins?
I’ve been accepted into SUNY Buffalo’s Human Factors Engineering PhD program for Fall of 2008. They’ve offerred me tuition and a stipend if i become a TA (which would be pretty cool right?). I’m trying to figure out if I should accept or not since it means another 3-5 years of living in poverty and much much harsher winters which i’m already sick of from just New England winters.
The upside would be that I get a new venue of living for a while, I could continue to put off paying my student loans, and of course i’d get to do research that i’m interested in instead of just reading other people’s work. And i’d be a PhD before age 30 which i think would be an accomplishment. Ideally i’d want to continue doing freelance work if I attended but i’m not sure if that’s possible given the horrible and low-tech economy of Buffalo.
As of right now i’m accepting, the only thing that will change my mind at this point is a lucrative job offer or a job offer at a company i really want to work for. I’m also waiting to hear from UCF on their hf program but they’ve been non-responsive which is making me not like them much.
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